Connect a Base Station

Connect a MIOTY base station to KiloCenter — BSSCI host port, server CA certificate and KC-Web creation steps.

A MIOTY base station is the radio gateway between endpoints and KiloCenter. Connecting it to your open-source service-center installation establishes the path that brings radio messages into the network; you can then register endpoints and verify their traffic.

What does this guide achieve?

Connect a MIOTY base station to your local KiloCenter instance and confirm it is online.

Prerequisites

• KC-Core, KC-Gateway, and KC-Web running (see Installation)

• TLS certificates generated (see the certificate bootstrap step in your installation guide)

• BSSCI reachable from the base station. The container always listens on 5000, but the host port depends on how you installed it: the default docker-compose.yml publishes it as host port 5050 (5050:5000, because macOS uses 5000 for AirPlay), docker-compose.prod.yml publishes 5000:5000, and a Linux-host run uses 5005 from KC-Core/config.yaml. Use the host port in everything you give to base stations.

• protocol.bsci_external_url (environment variable KILOCENTER_PROTOCOL_BSCI_EXTERNAL_URL) set to the address base stations should connect to, including the host port, for example tls://bssci.example.com:5000. If it names localhost or a wildcard address, the service center cannot hand out a URL and the Add Base Station result shows a warning.

• A user with the Base Station Manager role or Admin (see User Roles and Permissions)

Step 1: How do I add a base station in KiloCenter?

Before the hardware can connect, the base station must exist in KiloCenter. The Add Base Station wizard creates it and issues its certificates in one pass.

1. Open KC-Web at http://localhost/ (container) or http://localhost:5173 (source dev).

2. Select Base Stations in the sidebar. The page shows the station counts, a map and a table of every station.

3. Click Add Base Station at the top right. The Add Base Station dialog opens.

4. Fill in the fields:

   • Base Station Name (required): "A friendly name for this base station."

   • Base Station EUI (required): the 8-byte EUI as 16 hex digits, for example 0123456789ABCDEF. Spaces and dashes are tolerated while you type. An invalid value shows "Invalid Base Station EUI format. Enter 16 hex digits."; an EUI that is already registered shows "A base station with this EUI already exists."

   • Location (optional): Latitude (-90 to 90), Longitude (-180 to 180) and Altitude (meters above sea level). Fill both coordinates or neither, otherwise the dialog says "Both latitude and longitude are required, or leave both empty". Pick on Map opens Select Location ("Click on the map to place a marker"); click the map, then Confirm to copy the coordinates into the form.

5. Click Next. The button stays disabled until the name and EUI are filled in and shows Creating... while the station is created.

The dialog then moves to Base Station Ready:

• A green banner reads "Base station added successfully! Download the certificates below to complete setup."

• A summary shows the Name, the Base Station EUI and the Service Center URL, each with a copy button.

• If the service center holds no reachable URL, a warning names protocol.bsci_external_url and KILOCENTER_PROTOCOL_BSCI_EXTERNAL_URL instead of showing a URL.

• Download CA Certificate, Download TLS Certificate and Download TLS Key (One-time) save the three files. "Links expire in 15 minutes. Private key can only be downloaded once." Save all three before you close the dialog.

• Next Steps lists what to enter on the base station: the Service Center URL, kilocenter-ca-certificate.crt, basestation-<EUI>-client-certificate.crt and basestation-<EUI>-private-key.key, then save and restart the station.

• Continue closes the dialog and returns to the list.

If certificate generation fails, the dialog shows Certificate Generation Failed with the message "Base station created, but certificate generation failed. Use the retry button to generate certificates." The station already exists. Click Retry Certificate Generation (it reads Generating Certificates... while it works) or Continue, and issue new files later from the station's Edit dialog with Regenerate Certificates. See How do I regenerate a base station certificate?

Step 2: Configure Base Station Hardware

Point the base station firmware to your KiloCenter host:

• Service Center address: the Service Center URL from the wizard (your KC-Core host name or IP)

• Service Center port: the host port that publishes BSSCI: 5050 with the default docker-compose.yml, 5000 with docker-compose.prod.yml, 5005 on a Linux host (BSSCI)

• Protocol: TLS (required)

For AVA base stations, the factory login is ubuntu / 123456. Change these credentials after initial access.

Step 3: Install the Certificates on the Base Station

The base station must trust KiloCenter's CA certificate for TLS to succeed and present its own client certificate.

1. Take the three files you downloaded in the wizard: the CA certificate, the TLS (client) certificate and the TLS key.

2. Import them through the base station's configuration interface: the CA into its TLS trust store, and the client certificate and key as its identity.

Each base station gets its own client certificate, bound to its EUI. The service center refuses a station that presents anyone else's certificate.

Step 4: Verify Connection

In KC-Web

Open Base Stations. The connected base station should show an Online status in the table, next to its Connection, Date Added and Last Seen.

Select its row to open Base Station Details. The Certificate panel shows the client certificate, and Ping checks the BSSCI session.

Its Activity tab lists the station's events (it coming online, going offline) and the uplinks it hears, in the same columns as the Events Log. Administrators also see warnings and errors on the dashboard's Alerts card, which links to the full history in Logs > Events Log.

If the base station has a location, entered when you added it or reported by its GPS, administrators also see it as a pin on the map at the top of the Base Stations page, above the search field. The pin turns from the error color to the success color when the station comes online, without a page reload. Click the pin to open the base station.

In Logs

tail -f kilocenter-modules/logs/runtime/kc-core.log

A successful connection produces log entries showing:

• Version negotiation -- KC-Core and the base station agree on BSSCI protocol version

• Attach operations -- the base station registers its endpoints with KC-Core

Look for entries containing versionNeg and attach with no error messages.

Common Connection Failures

Symptom	Likely Cause
No connection attempt in logs	Base station not pointing to correct host/port
TLS handshake error	CA certificate not imported or certificate mismatch
Connection drops immediately	Base station EUI not registered in KC-Web
Version negotiation fails	Firmware version incompatible with KC-Core BSSCI implementation

How do I delete a base station that still holds downlinks?

Deleting a base station closes its session and ends every downlink it held, queued at it, reserved for it or being revoked, as expired; the downlinks are not sent again through another station. A deleted station never connects again, so it cannot report what it did with them, but a station that is still powered may transmit them after it was deleted. Power the station off, or wait until no downlink is queued at it, before you delete it.